Lewis Hamilton had a challenging start as a Ferrari driver on Sunday, finishing 10th at the Australian Grand Prix behind expectations of racing toward victory ahead of the season, MySportDab Reports.
He battled through the Wet and Windy Albert Park weekend struggling with Ferrari’s unfamiliar wet settings and was left visibly frustrated with the team’s strategy.
Although he led for a short time when rivals were pitting, a late stop meant he dropped behind an unlikely series of finishers, in the shape of Alex Albon (5th), Lance Stroll (6th) and Nico Hülkenberg (7th).
Meanwhile at the front Lando Norris took his first Formula 1 win for McLaren while George Russell finished on the rostrum for Mercedes. Kimi Antonelli, Hamilton’s teenage replacement at Mercedes, impressed on debut with fourth.
Hamilton, who had sharp exchanges with Ferrari engineer Riccardo Adami, accepted the race had been hard work.
“Everything new with all the switch settings and balance issues there were to get used to. It was very difficult,” he said. “We hope we can step up in the next race and bring the best out of the car.”
Further down the field, the pace from Charles Leclerc was much poorer as he wound up in eighth place, setting Ferrari up for a tough fight ahead of next weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
